from Mammon + - ist; etymology for 'Mammon' from E-NED: from late Latin ma(m)mōna masc. (Vulg.), ma(m)mon (Diefenb.), from Greek (N.T.) µαµωνᾶς (late texts µαµµωνᾶς), from Aramaic māmōn, māmōnā riches, gain (frequent in the Targums). Hence also Syriac måmūnå, Goth. mammōna wk. masc., modern French mammon, mammone. The N. T. phrase µαµωνᾶς τῆς ἀδικίας (Eng. version ‘mammon of unrighteousness’; earlier versions, ‘mammon ofiniquity’, ‘wicked mammon’, etc.) represents exactly the Aramaic māmōn di-r'shaﻋ, ‘riches or gain of wickedness’ (Targ. Hab. ii. 9), and approximately the more common māmōn di-sh'qar, ‘riches of falsehood’.] The Aramaic word for ‘riches’, occurring in the Greek text of Matt. vi. 24 and Luke xvi. 9–13, and retained in theVulgate. Owing to the quasi-personification in these passages, the word was taken by mediæval writers as the proper name of the devil of covetousness. This use appears in English in the 14–16th c., and was revived by Milton (P.L. i. 678, ii. 228). The word does not occur in the N.T. translations of Wyclif and Purvey (who substitute richessis), but it was used by Tindale (1526–34) and subsequent translators, with the exception of those of the Geneva version. From the 16th c. onwards it has been current in English, usually with more or less of personification, as a term of opprobrium for wealth regarded as an idol or as an evil influence. 1550 - An Informacion and Peticion Agaynst the Oppressours of the Pore Commons, Robert Crowley; see below From: The Select Works of Robert Crowley: Edited by J. M. Cowper Printed for the Early English Text Society, 1872 An Informacion and Peticion. The Conclusion P. 175 From: Biographia Literaria;
Or, Biographical Sketches of My Literary Life and Opinions By Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1817 "Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters!" A Lay Sermon Addressed to the Higher and Middle Classes P. 416
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